Heretofore, numerous efforts have been undertaken to develop shoes for men and women that in appearance through facile alteration by the wearer. Prior art is extensive with footwear having changeable components to achieve a variety of purposes.
Most of such earlier attempts have been directed to what might be considered ornamental effects to increase the style of the shoe, such as shown in Smith's U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,649. Other efforts have been directed toward alternation in components for style, purposes of color and design; see e.g. Bailey's U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,369; Smith's U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,649; Halford's U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,385; Blakely's U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2001/0052195 A1; Dupree et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,484; and Dupree's U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,447.
Additionally, various efforts have been made to create a versatile shoe for athletic purposes. Most of such attempts have been for one specific athletic purpose or another (e.g. roller skating or bowling), such as Clementi's U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,392. Other interchangeable shoes focused on creating a sole suitable for the insertion of tools to practice various sports as shown by Schaefer's U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,295 and Aveni's U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,948.
There has been some focus in creating a versatile water shoe, although not interchangeable, serving many purposes as shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,802,740; 5,960,565; 5,732,480; 5,771,610; and 5,737,853.
Yet other inventions have focused on making a comfortable, affordable, easy to use versatile shoe. For example, Throneburg's U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,753 discloses a footwear system that includes a sock specifically made for the shoe. Others patents simply disclose slippers and sandals that are lightweight and affordable for beach use, e.g. Huard et al. U.S. Des. Pat. No. D450,179 S.